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Post surgery swollen "mini pregnancy" belly not gone 6 weeks after colectomy

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Posted 6/14/2013 7:22 PM (GMT 0)
It has been 6 weeks since my surgery (subtotal colectomy with end ileo) but I still have a noticably protuding belly below my bellybutton- not hernia type bulge, rather, the whole belly there is swollen vs pre-surgery.. i am male but I call it my mini-pregnancy, lol. Is this going to take ages longer to go away, or not go away at all, unless I get a "tummy tuck" (but it's not fat, I know that much). I dont feel any post-surgical inflammation there anymore whatsoever.
Posted 6/14/2013 7:32 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Pro, I've been told by many suergons including plastics not to judge the incision area short term. They said most bumps flatten themselves out over time (could take 1-2 years.) There is always the option of plastics, but that involves an extra surgery.
Posted 6/14/2013 7:35 PM (GMT 0)
It may or may not go away. Give it a year.

Sue
Posted 6/14/2013 7:43 PM (GMT 0)
"It may or may not go away"

what?! why not, why would it be normal to have a buldge there when some don't have or used to have. It should be something to fix.

I mean, you don't want to walk around with a mini pregnancy for ever, like Pro, put it.

I hope it goes away.
Posted 6/14/2013 7:58 PM (GMT 0)
"what?! why not, why would it be normal to have a buldge there when some don't have or used to have. It should be something to fix."

Somedude- Incisional scars and bumps have a mind of their own. You can google incisional scars to see some examples. I agree that I wouldn't want one that's messed up but as far as insurance is concerned, they consider these types of imperfections as cosmetics. Usually, you have to have to pay out of pocket to have it fixed. The exception is an open incision that hasn't healed correctly because that falls under a medical neccesity due to hernia risk.
Posted 6/14/2013 10:27 PM (GMT 0)
Three years later and I still have exactly what you ar describing. It's here to stay. I'm thin but have this little lopsided,4 month pregnant looking belly. Mine isn't fat or loose skin.....it's litterally like my insides have shifted with the absence of my colon and now my small intestine is sitting in that area making it bulge out a little. I don't know if that's what it is but it sure seems like it. Very strange. I call it my alien belly!
Posted 6/14/2013 10:34 PM (GMT 0)
Yuck, that would suck if it doesn't melt away. Well, I may look into plastics at my own expense if it doesn't go away and insurance won'tcover it. My stoma is at the peak of the belly hump and would be invisible even under tighter clothes if I still had the lower ab that I had pre-surgery, that is without the bulging. I am actually in the middle of a couple plastic procedures to fix a slow healing incision now and will ask the doc for their opinion on options for this. The good news is that it is not as bad as it was right after surgery... Still, it shouldn't look like it does, like a mini beer belly at the pelvis.

PS: i will report back again after my current re-opened incission is fixed and closed up. It is at the skin level, not the lower ab wall, but it had widened up into a big crater and the repair surgery might tighten up that whole area of abdomen a little bit; hoping that this plus time, and rebuilding my abdominals and six packs gradually, will melt away a decent chunk of the bulge, which is noticable in large part because I am trim. I dont want to exaggerate the bulge, but because I was a bit vain enough aout my form before (lol), I notice it very much.

Post Edited (Probiotic) : 6/14/2013 5:02:14 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/14/2013 11:14 PM (GMT 0)
If you are still having an incision issue on your abdomen, then it could still be "trauma" swelling. There's still hope!
Posted 6/14/2013 11:31 PM (GMT 0)
Is the bulge near your incision? Where/how big is your incision, anyway?

I don't think it's the same issue, but I have some "bulging" around my horizontal incision -- I've always had a pretty flat belly and with UC weight loss there was very little fat there, but because of the way the scar has healed thus far there is bulging above and below the incision, sort of like if you tie a string around a sack of flour. My understanding is that it's because scar tissue made the incision heal too "tightly", but it has improved a bit with time.
Posted 6/14/2013 11:50 PM (GMT 0)
Well, my bulge is throughout my lower abdomen, but the biggest (hand port of lapro surgery) incision - a couple inches vertica originally (it grew in length and width after it was opened up post surgery)- is in the midst of the bulged belly. The incision repair going on now only involves the outer skin though, and there is zero abdominal pain or tenderness in the bulged belly area apart from that from the repair surgery itself. I was a super fitness freak before the surgery even with active UC... So I am hoping that as I *very gradually* resume such activity it will pull the belly in a little bit. From hitting the gym or doing other equally athletic stuff almost daily, I have been sedentary Dave for lots of walking for the past 6 weeks. Also, maybe the 1.5" wide crater in the outer skin of the opened incision, once closed shortly, will possibly help pull things in slightly too.

All in all I guess it's a good sign that I can obsess over the vanity aspects of my surgery... Not that I am not still learning new tricks all the time, and fighting little battles on the other non vanity stuff.

PS to somedude- I'd still not trade these issues for my UC back , ever- not a chance!

Post Edited (Probiotic) : 6/14/2013 5:55:43 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/15/2013 7:05 PM (GMT 0)
Pro- Good luck with your upcoming surgery. Hope they can take care of that open incision for you!
Posted 6/15/2013 10:48 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, mossmi. Will be great to a) be done with packing and b) start working out again beyond just walking like a maniac. Well, missing even that now that I am back in "prison"=hospital, between my two little surgeries but tied to a ball and chain (wound vac machine not my better half lol).
Posted 6/16/2013 2:34 PM (GMT 0)
I'm not sure if I have exactly the same thing as you, but my stomach really sticks out below the belly button (and above it too :-/) It was bad enough before, but it got even worse after the surgery - I could tell from just looking at it, but also because I couldn't fit into any of my jeans. I suspect I still can't, although I haven't tried.

To be fair I have never had a flat belly, even when drastically underweight - but it was obviously a lot smaller than it is now. Long-term use of Pred can change the fat distribution, encouraging fat storage around the trunk and on the back of the shoulders (the 'buffalo hump'). I dunno if you were on a high enough dose for that to happen, though.
Posted 6/16/2013 3:08 PM (GMT 0)
I am cautiously optimistic this will go down a lot over a longer period, as I start hitting the gym again soon...Also, pre surgery I was super low carb paleo because in my case (I dont push it on anyone) it helped. Now, sans colon I kind of need quite a bit if rice, oatmeal etc for now and the extra carbs helped me quickly regain the weight I lost during my surgeries, but with much reduced muscle mass that means I must have more fat... I am very optimistic that working out to rebuild muscles and tone, plus a shift back to a more limited carb intake, will help. I dont want to back fully to paleo, as some carbs are helping me form bulk in my output, but I can back off from the high doses I was doing in the weeks right after surgery.
Posted 6/16/2013 8:30 PM (GMT 0)
There may always be some unevenness, but what you are talking about will mostly settle down over the first few months. That was my experience.
Posted 6/16/2013 8:35 PM (GMT 0)
Pro- What's up with the wound vac? Did they close the incision with internal stitches? I never had a wound vac. I was offered one when I had an open incision but it seemed like a PITA.
Posted 6/16/2013 10:47 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah mossmi, internal stitches, but the outer incission got re-opened to signs of a small local infection there. It was supposed to heal up via frequent packing of gauze but over time it widened and lengthened- it is now around 2.5" vertical by 1" horizontal. It certainly bathes the wound in antibiotics and flushes out dead tissue. Might get a vac on top of the closed up incission after the next surgery- as batty as I'd be to be an inmate for a couple more days- I do after all not want to have to open it up yet again.
Posted 6/16/2013 10:49 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah mossmi, internal stitches, but the outer incission got re-opened to signs of a small local infection there. It was supposed to heal up via frequent packing of gauze but over time it widened and lengthened- it is now around 2.5" vertical by 1" horizontal and the plastic surgeon thinks it would take months more to heal fully and leave a sunken area of skin even then, hence this repair. The VAC certainly bathes the wound in antibiotics and flushes out dead tissue. Might get a vac on top of the closed up incission after the next surgery- as batty as I'd be to be an inmate for a couple more days- I do after all not want to have to open it up yet again.
Posted 6/17/2013 11:01 PM (GMT 0)
Pro- you're killing me here. ;) My stomach looks like a freaking tiger attacked it! After months of being on lots of pred. I developed prednisone induced Cushing's syndrome. My skin got really weak. Add in fast weight gain = horrible stretch marks up and down my stomach as well as other parts of my body.

My stretch marks look very similar to this, however I'm probably 25% less affected than this guy.

http://pituitary.ucla.edu/images/site/CD3.3.jpg
Posted 6/18/2013 12:03 AM (GMT 0)
I had a huge open incision when I had my stomach ulcer surgery. It finally closed after a good 8 months, but it was sunken in and ugly looking. My surgeon fixed it during my J-pouch creation. It looks great now. It is nice and even with the rest of my belly.
Posted 6/18/2013 12:22 AM (GMT 0)
Pro- So how long are they keeping in the wound vac before closing? Are you still in the hospital? I was thinking you would be in and out in a day...

Post Edited (Mossmi33) : 6/17/2013 6:25:14 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/18/2013 1:29 AM (GMT 0)
Nope, cleanup/debriding surgery was thursday, I was supposed to be closed up and done today, but today's surgery showed some remaining infection so it was only partly closed and i remain on wound vac and IV antibiotics... Hopefully final close up Wednesday followed by home portable wound vac for 4 days or so.
Posted 6/18/2013 2:13 AM (GMT 0)
Ugh, sorry. I didn't realize you were in the hospital still :(.
Posted 6/18/2013 2:51 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah these are small surgeries (in many parts of the world they'd probably be performed as outpatient procedures exclusively) but it's a drag being an inmate again. I could be walking my 8 miles a day as I was last week, and climbing 12 flights of hospital stairs rpeatedly, except that the wound vac machine is like 20 lbs or so and has to be attached to a walker if you want to leave the footprint of the bed. Have gone on a few long walks through the basements corridors though, lol. Hopefully out with a home vac in a few days and then finally done with that silly incission issue for good.
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